New data shows how car insurance policies have evolved to meet EV demand
More than a quarter of standard comprehensive car policies now offer cover for damage to home charging points
With over one in five* (22%) vehicles on the road now having a plug, more and more households are looking to get charging points installed at home, but what happens – and more importantly, who pays – if something happens and the charging point breaks and no longer works?
The experts at Go.Compare car insurance have reviewed 314 standard comprehensive car insurance products and found that that 28%* (87) of standard comprehensive insurance products now offer cover for accidental damage, fire or theft of car charging points at a policyholders home address.
The insurance comparison site also found that some insurers also offer liability cover for all accidents involving a car’s electric charging cables when attached to the car. 41% (129) of those who offer standard car insurance clearly state that this cover is offered in its policy document or on its website. But this isn’t the same for all insurance providers, as 54% (171) aren’t clear in their policy documents about whether it offers liability cover for accidents caused by EV charging cables – with 4% (14) stating that they definitely don’t offer it.
Ryan Fulthorpe, GoCompare’s car insurance spokesperson, said:
“This research shows that the insurance industry is evolving to meet the needs of the electric vehicle owner, which is great news. With sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) increasing by 15%*** so far this year, and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) also up by 13%*** on the year to date, the EV is now a staple on our roads and most people have to charge their vehicles at home overnight, due to the lack of availability of public rapid charging points. (Something that Go.Compare has pointed out in a report on the availably of rapid chargers in the UK).
“As well as this, many EV drivers who live in the terraces or link houses around the UK have to run a cable over a pavement to enable them to charge their cars, so the additional offer of liability cover for accidents caused by charging cables is equally as important and will no doubt be attractive to those drivers.”
Ryan added: “However, it wasn’t clear in a number of car insurance products whether or not the liability cover was included, as it was hard to locate the information within the policy documents and there was no additional information on the website. So, there’s still some work to be done to make this information more obvious to policyholders.”
For more information about insuring EVs and car charging points, visit: https://www.gocompare.com/motoring/electric-cars/charging-guide/.
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Contact Information
Rosie Johns
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
*https://www.zap-map.com/ev-market-statistics/
**Source: Defaqto Matrix of 314 standard car insurance products in the market on April 4th 2023. Instant and unbiased market and competitor intelligence, from independent financial researcher Defaqto. Percentages are rounded up to the nearest whole number.
***Source SMMT - https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/
For further information please contact:
Lynsey Walden on lynsey.walden@Gocompare.com, or Kath Chadwick on Kathryn.chadwick@Gocompare.com.
Keep up-to-date with Go.Compare on Twitter; @Go.Compare
About Go.Compare
Go.Compare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.
It does not charge people to use its services and does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. Go.Compare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.
When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. It is this approach to comparing products that secured the company an invitation to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) in 2008, and it is still the only comparison site to be a member of this organisation.
Go.Compare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest and works with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.
Go.Compare is part of Future Plc and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
More information can be found here www.Go.Compare.com or here https://www.futureplc.com/brands/.